Apparatus for sintering roasted materials



Sept. 13, 1932.

G. STEIN APPARATUS FOR SINTERING ROASTED MATERIALS Filed ilay 5, 1931 "i'II/IIIIIIIIIIIIII/IIIIII/ =J,') IIIIIIIIIIIII Ill/III]!!! Patented Se t. 13, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GUSTAV STEIN, OF SALCHENDORF, NEAR NEUIYKIRCHEN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO T H E FIRM VEREINIGT-E 'STAHLWERKE AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, F DUSSELDOBF, GER- MANY APPARATUS FOR SINTEBING ROASTED MATERIALS Application filed May 5, 1931, Serial mi. 535,204, and in Germany April 12, 1930.

Various systems have hitherto been successfull employed for roasting the refined spar pro deed by the dressing of spar. Most of these systems were, however, little suited for sintering also 1 the roasted material. Two systems which have'obtained importance in practice but cannot be considered advantageousowing totheir wastefulness a e hereinaftermentioned. According to on of these, a cylindrical furnace, which was 3' urnalled nearly horizontally, was setin continuous rotation so that-the refined spar passed slowly through the furnace. Firing was by means of coal dust which was blown in and caused the material being treated to sinter. The

furnace however had to be shut down every third day and the opening to be freed from the fired material. There must also be mentioned a furnace system in which a crucible is heated with coke. The output is small and the consumption of coke very high.

Now the subject matter of the present in vention is an apparatus for sintering refined spar or the like by which it is possible in a particularly advantageous manner completely to sinter roastedrefined spar or the like in v the red hot condition, and thereby obtain by the sintering, which takes place in direct conjunction'with the roasting of the material, a charge material in the form of coarsepieces which is pre-eminently suitable for smelting. The furnace by which this object is effected is adaptable to, almost any existing roasting system and can be fitted in a particularly advantageous manner to roasting furnaces having several stages. tered can be roasted in the upper stages and caused to sinter in the'chamber in accordance with the invention. How the roasting proceeds is not of importance in this connection.

In this apparatus the previously roasted refined spar or the like which is preferably still in the. red hot condition is directly delivered on to a layer of solid glowing com bustibleinaterial, for example coke, and additional heating gas is conducted over its surface. The furnace for carrying out this process consists of a chamber with a removable bottom constructed in one or more parts on which The material to be sinlfuel has been ignited with the aid of the heat radiated by the heating gases passed through the furnace, the roasted refined spar or the like is placed on it and is caused to sinter by the heating gases which now flow over the refined spar.

The placing of the solid fuel on the bottom of the furnace or on the bottom portions as well as the removal of the sintered chargetakes place automatically, in accordance with the invention, on displacin the furnace parts, since the bottom parts are lowered at the beginning of their entry into the'furnace and are raised against a scraping surface on the beginning of their removal from the fur- This automatic lowering and raising of the bottom parts can be efiected in accordance with the invention by pivoting each part of the bottom of the furnace through theagency of levers to yar'riage axles, so that on-entering into and on coming out from the furnace they swing about the axles and are thereby lowered or raised until a draw-bar or the like, which engages the axles, abuts by -,means of projections with which it is provided against a stop fixed to the bottom'part.v

A constructional embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section and I Fig, 2 a cross-section through the sintering furnace, while 1 Fig. 3 shows a longitudinal section through a cleaning tube and a'nozzle box.

Referring to the drawing, the sinteringfurnace consists of a chamber which is swept by the heating gases which pass through laterally arranged firing passages 3. The bottom of the chamber is closed by the two sin tering surfaces 1 which form the bottom of the furnace. The consist of fire-resistant bricks held together by an iron frame. eral'nozzle boxes 4 are inlet in the upper sur face. These are long four-sided boxes in Sev- each upper axles are the top order to remove any dust which may fall 1nto it from the box 4 there is provided, in accordance with the invention, at the end of box a downwardly directed cleaning tube 5 having a ball valve 7 Whenthe pressure is increased the ball opens the valve whereas at the normal operatmg pressure a spring presses the ball upwards. Each sintering'surface 1 rests on a travelling frame having two upper and two lower axles. The pivotally connected by arms 2 with the two lower axles. According to the position of these arms 2, the surface 1 lies higher or lower. If, for example the ri hthand carriage frame is dfawn out of the ur- .nace by means of the draw-bar 8 the-bottom part 1,.which otherwise maintains its position, is at first raised, owing to the fact that the lower axles and wheels move to the right until the stop 9 of draw-bar or rod 8 is applied against the stop 9' which is rigidly connected to part 1. Only then does the whole furnace part move outwards, asis illustrated on the left-hand side of the Fig. 1. The reverse proceduretakes place on returning the parts into the furnace.

In order that every part of the sintering coke may come into contact with the air from 'the nozzles the surface is preferably grooved.

On closing the bottom, i. e. on moving inwards the lowered bottom portions 1, the laterally arranged coke containers 6 deliver the necessary coke to the lowered surfaces.

The delivery of the roasted material from the roasting furnace into the nace can take place throu h openings 13 provided in an arched roof 0 the sintering furnace. A slider consisting of a vertical plate 10 and several runners 11 is moved backwards and forwards by the air cylinder 12 and thereby presses down the material in'the roasting furnace on the roof of the sintering furnace. In the drawing, two positions of the slide are illustrated, the righthand position shows the extreme position of the slide in this direction in which the plate 10 simultaneously serves the purpose of a closure to the outside. The next higher stage of the roasting furnace can be constructed in a similar manner and be provided with a slide, in which case however the opening and the bottom prefe bly alternate in the vertical plane and thii slides are movable alternately from left or right.

As set forth in the specification, the fuel is ignited before the introduction of the roasted material by the heating gas passing from the lateral furnace 3. The material to be sintered is distributed in that the slide 10 shoves the roasted material aside, so that it falls through the slots 13. The uniformity of the distribution on the portable bottom 1 is entirely sufiicient and, as found by expe-- not be too wide.

rience, these slots should out laterally bot- When the carriage is rolled of which nozzle holes are bored. In

, charge of the collected dust.

sintering fur- ,tubes connected to said tom 1 is raised, so that the sintered material is stripped off by the bars 15 and falls through of its own weight. The air nozzles are connected with a compressed air pipe by the passage 14 shown at the outside, and thus supplied with air. As a result of a temporary increase of the air pressure inthe-nozzle housing the ball 16 closing the passage 7 is forced back against the action of the spring 17, and the orifice thus opened for the dis- When the carthere is no longer any collected material on the furnace cover perforated by the slots 13 which can drop down. The carriages are drawn out only so far that the lower openings of the lateral fuel reservoirs 6 remain closed by the bottom 1.

I claim 1. Sintering furnace comprising a furnace chamber, means for gasfiring said furnace chamber,

riages are rolled out a layer of solid fuel and upon this a layer of the material to'be sintered is deposited and-said grate being provided with passages for conducting air to the fuel.

2. Sintering furnace comprising a furnace chamber, a laterally removable grate, which forms the bottom of said chamber and con-' sists of separately movable grate portions, on which first a layer of solid fuel and upon a laterally removable grate forming the bottom of said chamber on which first this a layer of the material to be sintered is deposited, and said grate being provided with passages for conducting air to the fuel.

3. Sintering furnacercomprising a furnace chamber. means for gas-firing said furnace chamber, a laterally removable grate, which the bottom of said chamber and conslsts of separately' movable grate portions, on which first a layer of solid fuel and upon this a layer of the material to be sintered is deposited. and said grate being provided withpasSages for conducting air to the fuel.

4. Sintering furnace comprising a furnace chamber, means for gas-firing said furnace chamber, a laterally removable grate, which forms the bottom of said chamber on which first a layer of solid fuel and upon this a layer of the material to be sintered is deposited, said grate being provided with passages for conducting air to-the fuel, cleaning passages and valves in said cleaning tubes for closing same to the atmosphere.

5. Sintering furnace comprising a furnace chamber, means for gas firing said furnace chamber, a laterally, removable grate, which forms the solid fuel and charge to be sintered are deposited, the latter upon the former, said bottom of said chamberon which raising said grate when it'is With- Ill drawn from the furnace so that said'scraping meansremove thesintered charge.

solid fuel, passing heated thereby igniting said fuel,

s .thereover,

gase c arging. a layer 6. Sintering furnace comprising a furnace of the material to be sintered on the fuel and chamber, a laterally removal) e grate which forms the bottom of said chamber on which solid fuel and the. charge to be sintered are deposited the latter upon the'former, said grate being provided with passages forconducting air to the fuel, scraping means located above said grate, means for automatically raising said grate when it is withdrawn.

the furnace so that said scraping means remove the m'ntered charge, and means for automatically lowering said grate away from said scraping means when it is introduced into the furnace with'thecharge of solid fuel upon it.

7. Sintering furnace comprising a furnace chamber, means for gas-firing said furnace chamber, a laterally removable grate, which forms the bottom of said chamber and consists of separately movable grate portions on which the fuel and charge to be smtered are deposited, the latter upon the former, said grate being'provided with passages for conuctin air to the fuel, scraping means located a eve said grate, means for automatically raising said grate when. it is withdrawn from the furnace. so that said scraping means remove the sintered charge. 8. Sintering furnace comprisin afurnaoe chamber, means for gas-firing said furnace chamber, a laterally removable grate which 'formsjthe vbottom of said chamber, which consists of separately movable grate portions, on which solid fuel and the charge to be sintered are deposited, the latter upon the former, said grate being provided with I In testimony w ereof Iv afiix passages for conducting air to the fuel, scraping means located above said grate, means for automatically raising said grate when it is withdrawn from the furnace so "that said scraping means remove the sintered charge, and means for automatically lowering said ate away from said scraplng means when I it is introduced into'the furnace with the charge of solid el upon it.

9. Sintering furnace. com risinga furnace chamber, means for gas-firm said furnace chamber, a-laterally removab e grate which firms the bottom of said furnace chamber and consists of separately movable grate por- -tions on which first a layer of solid fuel and upon this a layer of the material to be sintered is placed, wheel-axles connected by links to said grate portions that said stbgs and thereby limit the extent to which sa1 grate portions can swing. 10.;Process for sinterin roasted materials which' comprises provid ng a layer of chamber, means for gasfirin said furnace passing heating ases over its surface.

In signature. GUSTAV STEIN. 

